adidas officially unveiled the lightest basketball shoe ever this week, the adiZero Crazy Light. CounterKicks sat with Elysia Davis, Basketball Sport Researcher on the adidas Innovation Team (aIT), for an interview on the 9.8 ounce shoe.

As one of the lead developers on the adidas Crazy Light, Elysia tells us about her role on the special project, how much research and development went into the shoe, the specifics to “Sprint Web” and “Sprint Frame” technologies, and the most difficult aspect in creating the Crazy Light.

Comments (15)

We are KILLING it with the Crazy Light info!!! Good job John and the crew.

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Taylor said on 16-04-2011

Loving the innovation Adidas! Great job on the interview with Elysia. Adi should put her in more videos.

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Fstop50 said on 16-04-2011

awesome watch. i finally get what sprint frame is after seeing this and sprint web sounds sick. still blows my brain how adi did a shoe at 9.8 oz. have you held the new kobe shoe? its a feather. cannot imagine how light this shoe is gonna be. thanks to ck for holding down all the crazy interviews too. fresh-ness

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Adrien Chegg said on 17-04-2011

Great interview with Elysia. I have decided this will be my next shoe. Nothing new from Nike OR Jordan is really doin it for me. Hope Adidas can keep it up so we have a real shoe battle again!

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HAWKix said on 17-04-2011

Respect to Elysia and Robbie and all the adidas team who put this shoe together. Better than ANY shoe Nike has done lately. Be real if these had a giant Check on the side kids would be trippin all over these. adidas just delivered one hell of an upper cut to the Beaverton cats with this one.

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Ches said on 17-04-2011

After watching MVP Rose beasting in the Crazy Lights on the Pacers, I think I’m sold. Crazy game.

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Nene33 said on 17-04-2011

They should have her explain the tech more often, she’s great, very clear, very to the point.

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PTfromRP said on 17-04-2011

sharp blue i like but can they release one in a classic superstar colorway like black and white only?

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adiMack said on 17-04-2011

Where and why no adiPrene + at $150 after tax. Pro Models at $70 have this tech. I ball exclusively in adidas and this is a major que or miss que if you ask me. adiZero is absolutely exciting though.

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Nene33 said on 17-04-2011

@ AdiMack, you just heard her explain, how everything on the shoe is completely newly developed. So NO shoe has this tech.

And just because you don’t have a ‘marketable’ product in the sole, doesn’t make it low-tech, this is precision EVA, stripped to the minimum, but with maximum effectiveness, that’s the real technology in building performance shoes.

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John Brilliant said on 17-04-2011

AdiMack emailed me earlier about his questions and I sent him a detailed version of the following but it’s useful for anyone wanting to know as well.

From what I’ve been told, the Crazy Light cushioning is better than anything adidas Basketball has done to date. Biggest reason why there’s no adiPRENE+ is that it adds about 35% increase in weight for the same volume of EVA….which obviously doesn’t work in the favor of a project where the goal is to dial down the weight of the shoe as much as possible at every level. That said, adidas is also offering a 2nd sockliner that’s lightweight but has more cushioning built in if you want it (media were shown these at the NYC launch event). Also check out the official Crazy Light Tech Guide which gives a great overview of all the new tech going into the shoe and notes the midsole as an injection molded EVA:

@NENE33 the tech guide says that the crazy lights uses Injection Molded EVA. so this does not appear to be a new use of a new foam for cushioning. The interviews confirm the same. The set up is advanced and much appreciated. So the effort to performance is awesome. Again I ball exclusively in adidas 10 years now and know the minute response differences between shoes with adiprene + and without. I used to ball in nothing but zoom air but have enjoyed the balance and less wobble of an adidas shoe over nike. Last year I read an article regarding NBA players and shoes and foot injuries. In this day and age with the advances in shoe tech. I posed a question, if most of the players coming down with foot injuries are wearing NIKE and NBA trainers expect players to change shoes almost every game. One could make an argument that NIKE’s versus adidas may not provide the stability needed? Another argument could be posed that players changing balance points every year through shoes increase their exposure to injury. adidas offer a consistency in this area.

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Kit said on 18-04-2011

Well done interview.

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Nene33 said on 19-04-2011

@ AdiMack, It’s not a new foam, but EVA isn’t just all the same, EVA gets build up out of different compounds, and comes in all kinds of densities.

Again you’re thinking, ‘marketable’ product, this is technology, it’s EVA tuned to minimize weight, and max out protection.

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AdiMack said on 20-04-2011

@Nene33. Maybe originally my first post came off as looking into “marketable product” but in actuality it’s all about performance on the basketball court for moi. So when the reviews come out (which small ones are being written now) it will be clearer. But then again Im an adidas guy so there is some bias. 2010 Pro Models are a wonderful shoe keep it up adidas.